Finland Times

     Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said in London that the new government does not intend to write off many of Greece's bailout loans as investors demanded. He added that they would rather suggest alternative options including a debt swap for growth-linked bonds.

     The remarks eased market concerns about instability in the euro zone and the euro soared 1.26 percent against the greenback afterwards. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was down 1 percent at 93.557 in late trading.

     On the economic front, new orders for manufactured goods dropped 3.4 percent in December from the previous month, missing market consensus of a 2.2-percent decline, said the U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday.

     In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1490 dollars from 1.1346 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound edged up to 1.5165 dollars from 1.5037 dollars. The Australian dollar rose to 0.7808 dollars from 0.7805 dollars.

     The U.S. dollar bought 117.56 Japanese yen, higher than 117.23 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar went down to 0.9224 Swiss francs from 0.9283 Swiss francs, and it slipped to 1.2402 Canadian dollars from 1.2586 Canadian dollars.